Dec 26, 1963

Gentofte, Denmark

The oft-seen and heard dynamo of Metallica, when it comes to arranging all matters
from songs to business, Lars is always at the epicenter. Indeed, constant activity
has been a hallmark of Ulrich's life. As a child he saw his father Torben run a
small jazz club in Copenhagen (sax player Dexter Gordon is Lars' Godfather) before
following the family on the professional tennis circuit where Torben became an
established figure.
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Lars was nearly 10 when the sounds of Richie Blackmor... ... (read more...) e and Deep Purple blew his
little socks off at one of the first gigs he ever attended. It began a theme which
has been recurrent in his life -obsession with a band- and having bought the
'Fireball' album, he began a Deep Purple love affair which continues to this day. At
13 his grandmother bought him his first drum kit, yet percussion vyed with tennis
for priority. When the family moved to Newport Beach, CA in the late '70's, the
seeds of priority scattered themselves in his field: girls, rock'n'roll and the
occasional funny cigarette were all keys in turning Lars from the wooden raquet to
full metal racket. He got so excited about metal music that he jammed a bit with a
young lad called James Hetfield before taking a teenage trip to England during June
of 1981 to see his newly beloved Diamond Head. He thus managed to finagle living
with them for a while before returning to So Cal and the tape-trading he enjoyed
with the likes of Metal Blade Records Brian Slagel.

Slagel was looking for bands to record cuts for an album he would release on the
label (their first release). Lars got a slot but had no band. Remembering the
less-than-awesome yet energetic jams with young Hetfield, Lars called him up and
told him about the album. James listened. And thus was Metallica conceived.

These days, some 80-odd million albums worldwide later, Metallica might have
undergone enormous collective and individual changes, but the essence of Ulrich
remains. He's also, in
recent years, become even more comfortable saying exactly what he believes in
regardless of the consequences (as evidenced by his willingness to be the band
spokesperson on the Napster issue).